


A Soldier's Duty

by scarletpelt



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:15:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22746907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletpelt/pseuds/scarletpelt
Summary: Snapshots of Bucky's life and a hard choice.





	A Soldier's Duty

**Author's Note:**

> CW for implied death of a child!

Private James had hated the marching. Always marching along like ducks barked at by their captain to stay in formation.   
Captain Harthorne was a son of a bitch who took pleasure in hearing his own voice. He would scream himself hoarse and walk away from the day with the closest thing to a smile James would ever see on his face.   
James had tended to keep away from the captain because of this. Keep his head down, stay in formation.  
Unless someone was in trouble.

Stevie was always in trouble. And Sargent James was always there for him. Watching his back, punching the guys Captain America missed. His aim was always true.  
With Stevie there was no formation. Only action. And action he could do.  
Action meant constant movement, constant chasing the enemy.  
And Bucky was always there for him.   
Until he fell from the train.

When he was woken, he had no thoughts that were his own. No memory of James. No worry for Stevie. No goal beyond what Herr Wagner gave him to consider. If he broke formation, stepped out of line, he was placed back in the Machine.   
It didn’t have another name. Or it might’ve but he didn’t know it. He didn’t need to. He only needed to know that it caused him pain.  
An intense pain that rushed down to his bones, making them ache with just the memory of it.   
He felt the same way when he met the captain he was supposed to kill.

Bucky’s arm required constant maintenance. Now that he was out of the control of Hydra, he had to perform the up keep.   
The parts were expensive, since it was high-end Hydra product. Just like he was. So rather than pay for them, he stole them from the bases he found. He couldn’t destroy the bases. It would draw attention to his movements.   
That didn’t mean that he enjoyed seeing them continue working.  
So rather than destroy them, he would wreck equipment or cause the death of a few guards. Never more than a few.  
At least he did.

Now, Bucky stood in the shadows of one of the Machines. It was on and his skin felt hot, bones aching with memory of pain. He watched in fear as he realized they were attempting to create a new version of him.   
A new soldier.   
A child soldier.

When he had unhooked the boy, bodies of Hydra agents laying around them, Bucky dropped to his knees.  
“Are you ok?”   
The child in front of him, almost imperceptibly shaking, blinked.  
“Ready to comply.” He whispered, a tear trailing down his face.  
Bucky stilled. There was nothing, nothing that could stop this kid from suffering.   
Except. Maybe, him.   
He could think of one way to help this kid. It hurt his heart to consider it. And yet it was a dull hurt compared to the alternative.   
Bucky wiped the tear away and pulled the child close.  
“Close your eyes.” He whispered and set both hands on the kids head.

That wasn’t the first time, or the last, that he found himself forced to kill a child. Before it had been for Hydra, now it was to save them from Hydra. It didn’t make it easier.   
It wouldn’t make Stevie understand.  
And he didn’t want to explain.


End file.
